Because of the uncertainty of petroleum supplies over the last decade, work is still being done to obtain useful liquids and gases from normally solid carbonaceous materials, such as coal and oil-shale. Coal, once the nation's leading source of energy, is perceived by many as a bridge between the finite supply of petroleum and the potentially inexhaustible energy sources such as solar and nuclear fusion.
Examples of processes developed for obtaining useful liquids and gases from carbonaceous materials, such as coal and oil-shale, include liquefaction processes, with and without a hydrogen donor solvent, gasification, pyrolysis with an inert solvent and hydrogen, and retorting in the case of oil-shale. The present invention is concerned with catalytic hydropyrolysis. Hydropyrolysis is conventionally practiced by pyrolyzing coal at temperatures from about 500.degree. C. to about 1000.degree. C. in the presence of hydrogen. Conventional catalytic hydropyrolysis processes suffer from such disadvantages as relatively high hydrogen consumption, the production of undesirable amounts of methane, and liquid products having relatively high boiling ranges, for example greater than 550.degree. C. Consequently, there exists a need in the art for catalytic hydropyrolysis processes which can avoid, or substantially reduce, such disadvantages.